


simplicity

by Shinkirou



Category: K (Anime)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Denial of Feelings, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-13
Updated: 2015-10-13
Packaged: 2018-04-26 04:38:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4990537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shinkirou/pseuds/Shinkirou
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Munakata Reishi doesn't cry.</p>
            </blockquote>





	simplicity

**Author's Note:**

> I probably should have finished writing and posting this like a year and a half ago but shhh it's fine

To say they were friends would be a stretch.

(Past tense, because Suoh is no longer alive.)

He'd used the term once, on the night before that fateful day, and had thought he meant it, but when Suoh quirked a grimacing sort of smile at him, the notion struck him. They weren't friends, not really; even if they'd been somewhat close at some points, they had never really bridged that gap. There had never been a time when their words would have reached each other on anything that mattered at all.

Certainly, Munakata had not been lying when he'd said that he wanted to save Suoh, and it had not only been out of fear of a repeat of the Kugatsu Crater incident in the past. Not that anyone else need know that. Suoh must have, though. Munakata finds that he was often much more perceptive than he let on.

But.

Calling them friends would be inaccurate, he now knows. It implies a level of fondness that they had not shared. It isn't only that they didn't get along, though that certainly plays it's role, but the very nature of the opposing Red and Blue Kings dictates that they will always be fighting over something or other. And certainly, they always were - even on things they should have been agreeing about, such as Suoh's Sword of Damocles, and forfeiting his role as Red King. 

Still.

He _had_ genuinely wanted to save Suoh. Perhaps _that_ is also due to the nature of opposed sets of Kings - even while fighting, there is an inexplicable attraction between them. Red and Blue Auras draw each other - the clansmen don't feel it themselves, apparently, but the Kings certainly do; it is the selfsame heat that courses through their bodies when they fight. Perhaps their personalities also play a role - certainly, there is much that they disagreed on, but they had their shared traits. Stubbornness. A sense of justice. Feeling like they would never see eye to eye. 

They did not even get along on most things, but that hadn't prevented... Well. No use dwelling in the past, now. Their relationship - in every sense of the word - had been chaotic and doomed from the start. Munakata knows that. 

(there is a part of him that is still angry that Suoh didn't even _try_ to find a way out of it - he could have abdictated his position, or if he'd just stopped using his powers so excessively, they might have been able to reverse or at least slow the damage; perhaps he would still be --)

Wishful thinking solves nothing. Munakata polishes his glasses meticulously, but isn't focused on the task at all. He's grown quite adept at doing things that way. There is much that needs to be done - reports need to be filed (though he will likely leave several small details out), the red (former) clansmen need to be talked to and possibly taken care of if they are still being rowdy (and Fushimi will need a lesson on tact and timing, on that note), the other kings will need to be notified insomuch as they can be, if they don't already know, and he still has to look for Yatogami Kuroh and the Strain that had escaped with him... 

(Suoh isn't --)

He has no time to be sitting around his office dwelling on 'what-ifs'. They don't matter. What's happened has happened, and there isn't a force in the world that can change that (but if there were - no, he can't do that to himself. There isn't. The end.) 

(Suoh is dead.)

He sits up, reaching for his phone, and coincidentally it begins ringing just as he grabs it. It's only a text from Awashima, however, telling him that she'd caught the Strain she'd been after, and asking what she should do with it. He trusts her to deal with it, though, since he isn't there in person and doesn't know the situation. If it isn't exceptionally dangerous, there are a number of things they can do, like restraining it and/or trying to rehabilitate it, which is SCEPTER4's job. Even if it is violent, they won't necessarily have to kill it, if it co-operates...

He tenses near imperceptibly when he realized where his thoughts have strayed. It was the same mentality he'd taken... He shakes his head and directs Awashima to do whatever she feels is best, and starts typing up his report of the 'incident'. He wonders vaguely why she didn't call as she usually does, but forces himself to focus on the report. 

_Red King: Suoh Mikoto - Deceased._

Typing it makes it seem more final, somehow. Even as he'd driven his saber through Suoh's heart, pressed closed to him in a twisted mockery of an embrace as Suoh held his shoulder to... force him still, it hadn't felt real. He'd left the island feeling almost detached from his body; nothing had phased him, and he actually does not remember the drive back inland at all, except that Fushimi had stitched up his side, and he had some inkling that Awashima had been talking to him, and he'd answered her absently. He can't remember the question at all. He's not even entirely sure there was one. 

It's only been three days. 

He is annoyed with himself for being so distracted. Suoh had been... Important, yes. All the Kings are, particularly to their opposing King. But more than just that, to him, and to others. HOMRA. Kushina Anna and Kusanagi Izumo in particular. So soon after they'd lost Totsuka Tatara... 

There is a rumour that Kings are only attracted to other Kings. 

What an absurd notion. Love... 

That had never been a factor, between them. Reishi is not so prideful that he wouldn't admit the part about attraction - certainly, he'd been drawn to Suoh since the day he became a King, and fights between them had always gotten his blood racing, heart pumping - but to go so far as love is certainly too much. 

Perhaps they could have been considered friends in the broadest sense of the word - they'd gotten along occasionally, and there had even been times when they did enjoy each other's company, physically and otherwise, quiet meetings in various places. But they certainly would never have been anything as close as true friends - or, well, "best" friends, he supposes. Those spots would have been taken by the Red clansmen, he knows. The thought doesn't bother him in the slightest - why should it? As much as he'd wished to save Suoh, it isn't as though he is depressed or anything. He'd given Suoh the ultimatum, and Suoh had made his choice, forcing Munakata to kill him. 

That was all there was to it. 

Of course on that day he hadn't been able to stop himself from being mad, lashing out at Suoh for forcing his hand that way, but Suoh had known. Had told him that he'd said enough, and welcomed Munakata's saber through the heart with open arms and a smile. 

He'd seemed quite peaceful. So unlike his usual disagreeable temper, Suoh had just smiled reassuringly at him - as if he'd needed that, he knew his duty and wouldn't back out for anything - and waited for him. Even dropped his hands from being outstretched at his sides to cling absently at his shoulder and waist. 

Munakata wonders how many other people have seen that particular smile. 

(He likes to think he's the only one, for a number of reasons. Yes, he knows there were other people Suoh cared far more about than him, who he would be more likely to smile for, but he'd been so completely at peace with his impending doom that it had almost been eerie. So accepting, so unafraid, and completely devoid of any will to fight. 

Of course, to himself, he can admit that Suoh had also looked the most relaxed Munakata had ever seen him, like a large burden had been lifted from his shoulders. He supposes it had. The fact that he was the one to put such an expression on Suoh's face makes him both unhappy and elated, as contradictory as those feelings are. 

Things between them had never been exactly 'normal', anyway; what's a contradictory emotion here or there?)

But in the end it doesn't matter; he's left here without the one person who understood him the best even when they were fighting - perhaps especially when they _were_ \- and that's all there is to it. Nothing to be done about it now except to file the necessary paperwork and deal with Homra if they kick up a fuss. It's a painful reminder that no matter how much you matter to anyone, death is an inevitability for everyone.

(Well, except the Silver King, perhaps, but he's rather an outlier, and even then, who knows where he is now?)

In the end, despite the impact he'd made on people around him, all that's left of Suoh now is memories and paperwork. His warmth, his smile... It doesn't exist anymore in physical form. Pictures, videos... Anything Homra has is all that there is left.

~~(That's a lie. Munakata has--)~~

Munakata sighs and saves the file before logging out and shutting down his laptop for the night. He needs the rest; he wouldn't admit it to his clansmen, never wanting them to be concerned over his health, but killing Suoh had taken a lot out of him, and not just emotionally. It will be good to sleep and hopefully get some rest.

Only once he's out of his uniform does he have a visual reminder of what he'd done. He knows he shouldn't have, knows that he doesn't deserve to have it, but...

Suoh's necklace hangs just in front of his heart.

It's a reminder of his failure, and he doesn't intend on taking it off. It doesn't weigh enough to be a burden, but the sentimentality of it is more than he'd ever thought he'd indulge in. Of course he'd never tell anyone else he'd taken it, but... For him, it's a sort of promise to himself, even as it is a punishment in it's own way.

He won't fail anyone else ever again.


End file.
